Hours later in a conference room, Garcia and Anderson stared at the piles of evidence on the conference room table. Everything from the letters that had found by Agent Hannah's body to the clothes left by the tree in Manchester was sorted into piles that covered the table. Garcia dropped her shoulders and let out a, "Oh boy."
"Oh boy is right," Anderson said, "Where do you want to start?"
"I don't-I don't even know. We should…..talk to Colmanshire…" Garcia trailed off before pointing to an evidence box that she didn't recognize. "What's that?"
"Items from the warehouse. There's only one thing that stands out." Anderson pulled the box closer to him and started digging through it. He suddenly pulled out a small evidence bag containing a white envelope and a key. The sight of it made Garcia smile for the first time in days.
"I knew that would spark some hope in you." Anderson placed the bag aside and pulled on his evidence gloves. "It's a key to storage unit."
Garcia raised an eyebrow and lifted the bag. "How do you know?"
"Well," Anderson pulled out the key, "The key is engraved with a rose and the initials WCC. I had a few guys look into it and it turns out that there's a storage company called Wayne's Chelmsford Crates." Anderson raised the key towards the light. "We ran the initials through the system and the place came up. It's about halfway between where your team disappeared and Manchester."
Garcia nodded and took the key from Anderson. "Let's go check it out then." She paused when Anderson gave her a reluctant look. "What?" she asked.
"Nothing." Garcia stepped closer to Anderson and repeated, "What?"
He placed his hands on the table and dropped his shoulders. With his head low, Anderson stated, "I don't think you should come."
"Why?" She didn't know what was more hurtful- the fact that he felt she couldn't handle herself or the fact that he waited until now to bring this up. Anderson saw the hurt in Garcia's eyes. "I'm sorry, but I think- I think this part can be done by the local authorities and other agents," he said.
"I can handle this-"
"I know that. I just think that you need some time to cope. You know, time to accept that the team is back and that Colmanshire is caught. When was the last time you've had a good night's rest?"
"July 27, 2010," Garcia swallowed and pointed to the key, "I want to do this. I will not feel like this is truly over until we know for sure. I'm going whether you like it or not." She placed the evidence bag in her purse. Anderson only stared at her, sadly.
"Hey," Garcia called out to him from the door, "Are you coming?"
She's going to run herself into the ground if this doesn't end soon, Anderson thought before answering, "Yeah."
Chelmsford, Massachusetts- Wayne's Chelmsford Crates
"Doesn't look like much," Garcia muttered as she followed Anderson and the owner of the storage facility down a large aisle. According to the owner, a man had bought out the unit that matched the key around the time the team had gone missing in 2010.
"You said that he paid in cash?" Anderson asked the owner as they turned into another aisle. The owner nodded. "Yep, he seemed a little out of the ordinary to me. Hell- half the fellas I rent or sell to are out of the ordinary." The owner stopped in front of a large black unit that stood at the west end of the facility. Anderson waved the man off before facing the unit.
The agent pulled out his handgun and glanced back towards Garcia. She was observing the unit carefully from where she stood in a daze. "Penelope, look alive," he called back to her, "You have the gun I gave you?"
"Yeah…." Garcia snapped out of her daze and pulled the handgun from her purse. "Never took it out."
"Well, you might actually get to shoot it," the agent muttered before placing a hand at the bottom of the door. "If you see anything dangerous, just shoot."
"Ok, I'm ready." Garcia steadied herself before Anderson pulled the unit door open.
What happened next felt like the longest thirty seconds of her life.
Anderson pulled the door open and froze, his eyes widening at what he saw. He screamed, "Run!" and turned on his heels. Garcia complied and ran a few meters away before she finally knew what had set Anderson off. At that moment, the unit exploded.
The blast threw them forward onto the ground. Both landed on their stomachs, Garcia slamming her head onto the pavement as well. Behind them, flames engulfed the unit in a fireball. Anderson looked back and screamed, "Son of a bitch!"
"He tried to blow us up," Garcia gasped, "He left the key on purpose to set us up…"
Anderson pushed himself onto his feet and turned to the fire. He kicked a nearby rock and repeated, "Son of a bitch!"
On the ground, Garcia held her bloody hands in front of her face. Her vision was blurry, but she could still see the outline of her hands.
"That arrogant bastard!" Anderson yelled. He holstered his weapon and muttered, "He's not done. Just when we thought that we had him…aaahhhh!" The sound of sirens suddenly filled his ears as police cars sped by the facility.
"We need to talk to him," Garcia said. Weakly, she turned onto her side. Anderson sighed and said, "No….I'll talk to him. You're going back to the hotel."
"What? Why?"
"Because you need to slow down, Penelope!" Anderson kneeled next to her, " I'm scared that you're going to crash if you keep going like this! In the last two months alone, you've been working non-stop, survived being ejected from a vehicle, and right now, survived an explosion with a possible concussion."
Anderson pulled Garcia onto her knees and continued, " When we get back to the hotel, I want you to give me 24 hours on stand- down. Nothing and I mean nothing on this case. Be with your family, rest your body and your mind- I will handle this right now. Please."
Why can't I say yes already? Why is it that I feel like I don't want to stop? " I don't know if I can."
"Take a break for 24 hours. That's all I'm asking."
Although Garcia didn't want to stop, the dizziness, nausea, and ringing in her ears made her say, "Ok."
